Trump’s chaos is threatening the bipartisan movement to break up Big Tech
At Y Combinatoras Little Tech Competition Summit in downtown DC last week, there was an air of optimism and something verging on camaraderie among a surprising crowd. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) a barely recovered from his 25-hour speech about preserving democracy on the Senate floor a day earlier a showed up to discuss the importance of competitive tech markets. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a staunch ally of President Donald Trump and longtime Big Tech critic, struck similar notes. Lina Khan, former Federal Trade Commission chair during the Biden administration, posed for a photo next to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who has openly praised her work.
About half a mile away, at the American Bar Associationas annual spring antitrust meeting, the mood was less triumphant. In the Khan era, the meeting served as a place for antitrust defense attorneys to grumble about President Joe Biden's tough merger and antitrust policies. This year, the familiar policy conflicts were shot through with a sense of foreboding over Trump's gutting of regulatory agencies and attacks on the legal profession itself.
Inside the airy, light-filled room, many speakers at the Little Tech Summit appeare …